Parents Visit

Ethan's dad came through town last week. He was on the last leg of his cross country train trip.  He flew out to Seattle and took Amtrak back to the East Coast. He's always wanted to take this train trip and we are glad he did it.  My parents were in town last week too.  The weather was beautiful - summer's last hurrah.  With temperatures in the 70's, we set off to see new things in the city.  I took a few days off work so I could join in the adventure.  Here are some photos showing all the fun things we saw and did.  

We walked almost the entire length of Central Park (the park runs from 110th down to 59th Aves, we walked from 104th to 59th).  There is a conservatory garden on the upper east side of the park.  We saw this same garden in January but it looks so much nicer this time of year.  

Fountain/bird bath in the garden

As we walked down 5th Avenue, along Central Park, we passed the Guggenheim.  Most of the time we've lived here, it's been covered in scaffolding for restoration.  Now it's back to normal.  We also came across a set for Gossip Girl - they were trying to film on the sidewalk next to the park but were having some difficulty with pedestrians walking through the set.  

Dog walkers in Central Park - these dogs were so well behaved.  The man in the tan pants was like Cesar Milan, the Dog Whisperer, with his "sssst" commands.  Those of you who watch the show on National Geographic know what I am talking about.  :)

We went to the Columbus Day parade - this is when the motorcades were coming down 5th Ave.  There were cops from NY, NJ, and CT who all had their sirens turned on.  


We watched the parade next to St. Patrick's Cathedral.  We went inside for some quiet time after the motorcade passed by.  
We took a day trip up to Cold Spring in upstate NY.  It was an hour train ride up the Hudson River.  The trees were just starting to turn color along the scenic route.   We passed Sing Sing prison and Westpoint along the way.  Cold Spring was a very cute town with lots of antique shops and friendly people.  It was nice to get out of the city for a day.  Here we are at the Cold Spring riverfront.  

Pretty tree in Cold Spring

Our train arrived back at Grand Central and on our way back to the F train I noticed this view of the Chrysler Building.  The main entrance to Grand Central is in the foreground.  The Chrysler may be my favorite NYC building.  

George Washington at Federal Hall - site of his inauguration as first US president

We explored downtown Manhattan - Wall Street, Ground Zero, South Street Seaport, Little Italy, Lower East Side (LES), Chinatown - all in one day.  We started the day at the Tenement Museum - a must see for our future visitors that includes 5 different walking tours. 

  "We tell the stories of 97 Orchard Street. Built on Manhattan's Lower East Side in 1863, this tenement apartment building was home to nearly 7000 working class immigrants." ~ Tenement Museum website

New York Stock Exchange 

Alexander Hamilton's grave at Trinity Church, located near Ground Zero.  

The Trinity Root 

This is a bronze sculpture of the sycamore tree root that saved St. Paul's Chapel (also located next to Ground Zero) from falling debris on 9/11.  

At South Street Seaport

Ethan's birthday was last week.  Here he is with his Brooklyn Blackout cake.  Yum!

Unfortunately, Ethan has some big work stuff coming up and is working late and on weekends.  I'm sorry he wasn't in too many of these photos but we are looking forward to a normal work schedule soon.